BENDERY:

District town in the government of Bessarabia. In 1898 it had a Jewish population of 12,000 out of a total of 33,000 inhabitants. Commerce is the main occupation of the Jews there, only 1,061 of them being engaged in handicrafts (397 masters, 515 journeymen, and 149 apprentices). Ten Jewish families, who own about sixty-eight acres of land within the city limits, are engaged in viticulture. The most important among the Jewish benevolent institutions are the Jewish Hospital, which has an annual expenditure of 6,400 rubles, and the Talmud Torah. In special Jewish schools religious instruction is imparted to 325 children, while at the public schools 240 children receive such instruction.